


Swan Song

by Airelle



Series: (Re)Incarnations [1]
Category: The Professionals
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 11:17:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1686404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airelle/pseuds/Airelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This series of short stories has been inspired by an exhibition I recently saw at the PALAIS DE LA DÉCOUVERTE in Paris, called “Bêtes de Sexe”. It is a foray into sexuality in the animal world, and some very interesting or curious facts have prompted me to try and adapt some of the situations described to Our Lads…<br/>Written May 28, 2013</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swan Song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Catlixe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catlixe/gifts).



Once upon a time, there were a rather unusual couple of swans, very much in love with each other. As swans usually do, they had mated for life and were living together.

  
Bee, the black swan with the murky past and the brooding good looks, wasn’t very much interested in parenthood – he never had been - but his paramour, Dee, the white swan with the rather fluffy feathers, very much wanted an egg of his own. Which was an impossible feat, as both lovers were males.

  
Dee, however, was getting seriously depressed about his inability to lay an egg and subsequently raise a chick. He dreamed of a suburban pond with a white picket fence, but swans in their line of work rarely found one of these. They had a nice, fulfilling life on their lovely lake, plenty to eat, good shelter, and they kept an eye on the neighbourhood to ensure everyone was safe. They had everything swans needed to be happy – except an egg.

  
Bee was a swan of action. When he could no longer bear his mate’s sadness, he started planning.

  
Bee told his mate to prepare a nest. Dee looked at him as if he had lost his mind. What good would a nest do? It was destined to remain empty forever, wasn’t it? But Bee, a manic gleam in his dark blue, long-lashed eyes, told his green-eyed companion to go ahead and do it, and to trust him. Dee didn’t understand, but he complied nonetheless. At least, it gave him something to do, other than wallowing in his misery…

  
There was a nice, healthy swan couple living not very far from them. The female was as white as Dee, and one beautiful morning, she laid three very nice eggs which would only need a few weeks’ tender care to become delightful chicks.

  
Taking advantage of a moment of inattention from the happy parents-to-be, Bee crept stealthily to their nest and stole one of the eggs, cradling it carefully in his palmed feet. When he came back to the nest Dee had made, he triumphantly deposited the egg in the middle of the carefully crafted cradle, very pleased by the beautiful swan-smile he received.

  
The bereft couple of swans searched a bit for their missing egg, showing signs of distress. But Bee ruthlessly suppressed any guilt he might have felt by telling himself that they had two other eggs to raise and would anyway be able to lay more eggs in future, while he and Dee only had this one chance at parenting. As for Dee, he was so happy with his filched egg that nothing could disturb his contentment, despite his usual propensity for being guilt-ridden over a lot of things, even the ones which were not of his doing, such as world hunger or the invention of gunpowder. With a happy sigh, he sat carefully on the fragile shell which contained all his hopes of fatherhood, and started the process of transforming the egg into their child.

  
Even if he didn’t really need to, he relied on Bee for all practical matters, fetching and carrying, and, in this instance, feeding him as well. When he really felt too cramped, he asked Bee to replace him for a spell at the binoculars – uh, on top of the egg – showering him with various recommendations about what to do in order not to harm it.

  
***

  
In due time, the chick emerged from the shell. He was male, which made them both very happy, because, let’s face it, they were a bit prejudiced against females, after all.

  
“I think we should call him George,” said Bee.

  
Dee was so happy, he merely grinned at his mate. At this moment, he would have agreed to anything, even naming their child Anson!

**Author's Note:**

> The basis for this story is true. Swans do mate for life, and they do form homosexual couples who, like Bee and Dee, steal eggs to start a family. I’m not sure that black swans mate with white ones, but they can now be found on the same waters, as black swans, originally from Australia, have been imported by western countries for their decorative value.


End file.
